Planning staff presented preliminary land‑capacity analysis (LCA) results to the Sequim Planning Commission on Oct. 7, saying the city’s land base can absorb substantially more housing than the allocation set through the comprehensive plan process but that achieving the right mix of housing types is essential.

Staff said the city was allocated a planning target of 1,850 new housing units and that about 784 units are currently pending in the development queue. "We have capacity for 6,208 units based on the land that we saw in the previous slide," staff told the commission, adding the LCA is still being finalized and subject to some adjustments.

The analysis accounted for limitations such as streams, wetlands and buffers, geohazards and updated FEMA flood hazard areas; staff said those constraints reduced theoretical developable acreage by about 38 percent. The methodology used assessor land‑use codes and thresholds (for example, parcels with combined improvement and land value at or below specified levels were considered vacant, and very high‑value homes were excluded from redevelopment assumptions).

On jobs, staff said the city was allocated 909 jobs to plan for and that LCA showed capacity for roughly 1,331 jobs on available land.

Staff and commissioners framed the numbers as a starting point for policy decisions rather than as guarantees of future development. The presentation emphasized that, although total capacity appears adequate, the city must shape zoning and development standards to encourage multifamily and other housing types that meet different income bands; staff pointed to a multifamily vacancy rate under 1 percent as evidence of tight rental supply.